the K. the Prince were cōstrained to yeeld to the Lords A cōstrained consent is the consent of a Captiue not of a K. therefore there was nothing done there either legally or royally For if it be not properly a Parliament where the subiect is not free certainely it can be none where the King is bound for all Kingly rule was taken from the King and twelue Peeres appointed and as some writers haue it 24 Peeres to gouerne the Realme and therefore the assembly made by Iack Strawe other rebels may aswell bee called a Parliament as that of Oxford Principis nomen habere non est esse Princeps for thereby was the King driuen not only to cōpoūd all quarrels with the French but to haue meanes to be revenged on the rebell Lords but he quitted his right to Normādy Aniou Mayne COVNS But sir what needed this extremity seeing the Lords required but the confirmation of the former Charter which was not preiudiciall to the King to graunt IVST Yes my good Lord but they insulted vpon the King and would not suffer him to enter into his own castles they put downe the Purvey or of the meate for the maintenance of his house as if the King had beene a bankrupt and gaue order that without ready money he should not take vp a Chicken And though there is nothing against the royalty of a King in these Charters the Kings of England beeing Kings of freemen and not of slaues yet it is soe contrary to the nature of a King to bee forced euen to those thinges which may be to his advantage as the King had some reason to seeke the dispensation of his oath from the Pope and to drawe in strangers for his owne defence yea Iure saluo Coronae nostrae is intended inclusiuely in all oathes and promises exacted from a Soueraigne COVNS But you cānot be ignorant how dangerous athing it is to cal in other natiōs both for the spoile they make as also so because they haue often held the possession of the best places with which they haue beene trusted IVST It is true my good Lord that there is nothing so daungerous for a King as to be constrained and held as prisoner to his vassals for by that Edward the second and Richard the second lost their Kingdomes and their liues And for calling in of strangers was not King Edward the sixth driuen to call instrangers against the rebels in Norfolke Cornewall Oxfordshire and elsewhere Haue not the K s. of Scotland beene oftentimes constrained to entertaine strangers against the Kings of England And the King of England at this time had he not bin diuerse times assisted by the Kings of Scotlād had bin endāgered to haue bin expelled for ever COVNS But yet you knowe those Kings were deposed by Parliament IVST Yea my good Lord being Prisoners being out of possession and being in their hands that were Princes of the blood and pretenders It is an old countrey prouerbe that might overcomes right a weake title that weares a strong sword commonly prevailes against a strong title that weares but a weake one otherwise Philip the second had never bin Duke of Portugal nor Duke of Millayne nor K. of Naples Scicilie But good Lord Errores not sunt trah udi in exemplum I speake of regall peaceable and lawfull Parliaments The King at this time was but a King in name for Glocester Leycester and Chichester made choise of other Nyne to whom the rule of the Realme was committed the Prince was forced to purchase his liberty frō the Earle of Leycester by giuing for his ransome the County Pallatine of Chester But my Lord let vs judge of those occasions by their events what became of this proud Earle was hee not soone after slaine in Euesham was he not left naked in the field and left a shamefull spectacle his head being cut off from his shoulders his priuy parts from his body laid on each side of his nose And did not God extinguish his race after which in a lawfull parliament at Westminster confirmed in a following parliament of Westminster were not all the Lords that followed Leycester disinherited And when that foole Glocester after the death of Leycester whom he had formerly forsaken made himselfe the head of a second rebellion and called in strangers for which not lōg before he had cried out against the K. was not hee in the end after that hee had seene the slaughter of so many of the Barons the spoile of their castles Lordships constrained to submit himselfe as all the suruiuers did of which they that sped best payd their sines and ransomes the King reserving to his younger sonne the Earledomes of Leycester and Derby COVN Well sir we haue disputed this King to his graue though it be true that he outliued all his enimies brought them to confusion yet those examples did not terrifie their successors but the Earle Marshall and Hereford threatned King Edward the first with a new warre IVST They did so but after the death of Hereford the Earle Marshall repented himselfe and to gaine the Kings favour he made him heire of all his lands But what is this to the Parliament for there was never K. of this land had more giuen him for the time of his raigne then Edward the sonne of Henry the third had COVNS How doth that appeare IVST In this sort my good Lord in this kings third yeare he had giuen him the fifteenth part of all goods In his sixt yeare a twentith In his twelfth yeare a twentyeth In his fourteenth yeare hee had escuage to wit forty shillings of euery knights Fee in his eighteenth yeare hee had the eleventh part of all moueable goods within the kingdome in his nineteenth yeare the tenth part of all Church liuings in England Scotland and Ireland for sixe yeares by agreement from the Pope in his three twentith yeare he raised a taxe vpō wooll and fels on a day caused all the religious houses to be searched al the treasure in thē to be seized brought to his coffers excusing himselfe by laying the fault vpō his treasurer he had also in the end of the same yeare of algoods of all Burgesses of the Commons the 10 ◠part in the 25 ◠yeare of the Parliamēt of S t Edmūdsbury he had an 18 th part of the goods of the Burgesses and of the people in generall the tenth part Hee had also the same yeare by putting the Clergy out of his protection a fift part of their goods and in the same yeare he set a great taxe vpon wools to wit from halfe a marke to 40 ◠vpon euery sacke wherevpon the Earle Marshall and the Earle of Hereford refusing to attend the King into Flanders pretended the greeuances of the people But in the end the king hauing pardoned thē cōfirmed the great Charter he had the ninth penny of all goods from the Lords and
Commons of the Clergy in the South hee had the tenth penny and in the North the fift penny In the two and thirtyeth yeare he had a subsedy freely graunted In the three and thirtyeth yeare hee confirmed the great Charter of his owne Royall disposition and the states to shew their thankfulnesse gaue the king for one yeare the fift part of all the revenues of the land and of the Citizens the sixt part of their goods And in the same yeare the king vsed the inquisition called Traile Baston By which all Iustices and other Magistrates were grievously fined that had vsed extortion or bribery or had otherwise misdemeaned themselues to the great contentation of the people This commission likewise did enquire of intruders barrators all other the like vermine whereby the king gathered a great masse of treasure with a great deale of loue Now for the whole raigne of this king who governed England 35 yeares there was not any Parliament to his preiudice COVNS But there was taking of armes by Marshall and Hereford IVST That 's true but why was that because the king notwithstanding all that was giuen him by Parliament did lay the greatest taxes that ever king did without their consent But what lost the king by those Lords one of them gaue the king all his lands the other dyed in disgrace COVNS But what say you to the Parliament in Edward the Seconds time his successor did not the house of Parliament banish Peirce Gaueston whom the king favoured IVST But what was this Gaueston but an Esquier of Gascoine formerly banisht the Realme by king Edward the first for corrupting the Prince Edward now raigning And the whole kingdome fearing and detesting his venemous disposition they besought his Maiesty to cast him off which the king performed by an act of his owne and not by act of Parliament yea Gauestons owne fatherinlawe the Earle of Glocesterw as one of the Chiefest of the Lords that procured it And yet finding the kings affection to follow him so strongly they all consented to haue him recalled After which when his credit so increased that hee despised and set at naught all the auncient Nobility and not onely perswaded the king to all manner of outrages and riots but withall transported what he listed of the kings treasure and jewels the Lords vrged his banishment the second time but neither was the first nor second banishment forced by acte of parliament but by the forceable Lords his enemies Lastly hee being recalled by the king the Earle of Lancaster caused his head to bee stricken off when those of his party had taken him prisoner By which presumptuous acts the Earle and the rest of his company committed treason and murder treason by raysing an army without warrant murder by taking away the life of the kings subiect After which Gaveston being dead the Spencers got possession of the kings favour though the younger of them was placed about the K. by the Lords themselues COVNS What say you then to the Parliament held at London about the sixt yeare of that king IVST I say that king was not bound to performe the acts of this parliament because the Lords beeing too strong for the king inforced his consent for these be the words of our own history They wrested too much beyond the boūds of reasō CONS What say you to the Parliaments of the white wands in the 13 th of the king IVST I say the Lords that were so moued came with an army and by strong hand surprised the King they constrained sayth the story the rest of the Lords and compelled many of the Bishops to consent vnto them yea it sayth further that the king durst not but graunt to all that they required to wit for the banishment of the Spencers Yea they were so insolent that they refused to lodge the Queene cōming through Kent in the Castle of Leedes and sent her to prouide her lodging where shee could get it so late in the night for which notwithstanding some that kept her out were soone after taken and hang'd and the refore your Lordship cannot call this a Parliament for the reasons before alleaged But my Lord what became of these Lawgiuers to the king even when they were greatest a knight of the North called Andrew Herkeley assembled the Forces of the Countrey ouerthrew them and their army slewe the Earle of Hereford and other Barons tooke their generall Thomas Earle of Lancaster the Kinges cozen-germane at that tyme possessed of fiue Earledomes the Lords Clifford Talbort Mowbray Maudiut Willington Warren Lord Darcy Withers Kneuill Leybourne Bekes Louell Fitzwilliams Watervild and diverse other Barons Knights and Esquires and soone after the Lord Percy and the Lord Warren tooke the Lords Baldsemere and the Lord Audley the Lord Teis Gifford Tuchet and many others that fled from the battaile the most of which past vnder the hands of the hangman for constraining the King vnder the colour and name of a Parliament But this your good Lordship may iudge to whom those tumultuous assemblies which our histories falsely call Parliaments haue beene daungerous the Kings in the end ever preuailed and the Lords lost their liues estates After which the Spencers in their banishment at Yorke in the 15 th of the King were restored to the honors and estates and therein the King had a subsedy giuen him the sixt penny of goods throughout England Ireland and Wales COVNS Yet you see the Spencers were soone after dissolued IVST It is true my Lord but that is nothing to our subiect of Parliament they may thanke their owne insolencie for they branded despised the Queene whom they ought to haue honored as the Kings wife they were also exceeding greedy built thēselues vpon other mens ruines they were ambitious exceeding malitious wherevpon that came that when Chamberlaine Spencer was hang'd in Hereford a part of the 24 th Psalme was written over his head Quid gloriaris in malitia potens COVNS Well Sir you haue all this while excused your selfe vpon the strength and rebellions of the Lords but what say you now to King Edward the third in whose time and during the time of this victorious king no man durst take Armes or rebel the three estates did him the greatest affront that euer king receiued or endured therefore I conclude where I began that these Parliaments are dangerous for a king IVST To answere your Lordship in order may it please you first to call minde what was giuen this great king by his Subjects before the dispute betwixt him and the house happened which was in his latter dayes from his first yeare to his fift yeare there was nothing giuen the king by his subjects In his eight yeare at the Parliament at London a tenth and a fifteenth was graunted in his tenth yeare hee ceased vpon the Italians goods heere in England to his owne vse with all the goods of the Monkes Cluniacqs and others of the order of the Cistertians
this summe strangers not being inhabitants aboue 16 yeares 4 â— a head All that had Lands Fees and Annuities from 20 to 5â— and so double as they did for goods And the Cleargy gaue 6 the pound In the thirty seuenth yeare a Benevolence was taken not voluntary but rated by Commissioners which because one of the Aldermen refused to pay he was sent for a soldier into Scotland He had also another great subsedy of sixe shillings the pound of the Clergy and two shillings eight pence of the goods of the Laity and foure shillings the pound vpon Lands In the second yeare of Edward the sixt the Parliament gaue the King an ayde of twelue pence the pound of goods of his Natural subiects and two shillings the pound of strangers and this to continue for three yeares and by the statute of the second and third of Edward the sixt it may appeare the same Parliament did also giue a second ayde as followeth to wit of euery Ewe kept in seuerall pastures 3 of euery weather kept as aforesaid 2 â— of euery sheepe kept in the Common 1 â— ob The House gaue the King also 8 the pound of euery woollen cloath made for the sale throughout England for three yeares In the third and fourth of the King by reason of the troublesome gathering of the polymony vpon sheepe the taxe vpon cloath this acte of subsedy was repeal'd and other reliefe giuen the King and in the kings seauenth yeare hee had a subsedy and two fifteenes In the first yeare of Queene Mary tunnage and poundage were granted In the second yeare a subsedy was giuen to King Philip and to the Queene shee had also a third subsedy in Annis 4. 5. Now my Lord for the Parliaments of the late Queenes time in which there was nothing new neither head money nor sheepe money nor escuage nor any of these kindes of payments was required but onely the ordinary subsedies those as easily graunted as demaunded I shall not neede to trouble your Lordship with any of them neither can I informe your Lordship of all the passages and actes which haue passed for they are not extant nor printed COVNS No it were but time lost to speake of the latter and by those that are alreadie remembred we may iudge of the rest for those of the greatest importance are publique But I pray you deale freely with mee what you thinke would bee done for his Maiestie if hee should call a Parliament at this time or what would bee required at his Maiesties hands IVST The first thing that would be required would be the same that vvas required by the Commons in the thirtenth yeare of H. the 8 to wit that if any man of the commons house should speake more largely then of duety hee ought to doe all such offences to be pardoned and that to be of record COVNS So might euery Companion speake of the King what they list IVST No my Lord the reuerence vvhich a Vassall ovyeth to his Soueraigne is alvvaies intended for euery speech howsoeuer it must import the good of the King and his estate and so long it may bee easily pardoned othervvise not for in Queene Elizabeths time vvho gaue freedome of speech in all Parliaments vvhen Wentworth made those motions that were but supposed dangerous to the Queenes estate he was imprisoned in the Towre notwithstanding the priviledge of the house and there died COVNS What say you to the Scicilian vespers remembred in the last Parliament IVST I say hee repented him heartily that vsed that speech and indeede besides that it was seditious this example held not The French in Scicily vsurped that Kingdome they kept neither law nor faith they tooke away the inheritance of the Inhabitants they tooke from them their wiues and rauished their daughters committing all other insolencies that could bee imagined The Kings Maiesty is the Naturall Lord of England his Vassals of Scotland obey the English Lawes if they breake them they are punished without respect Yea his Maiesty put one of his Barons to a shamefull death for being consenting onely to the death of a Common Fencer And which of these euer did or durst commit any outrage in England but to say the trueth the opinion of packing the last was the cause of the contention and disorder that happened COVNS Why sir doe you not think it best to compound a Parliament of the Kings seruaunts and others that shall in all obey the kings desires IVST Certainely no for it hath neuer succeeded well neither on the kings part nor on the subiects as by the Parliament before-remembred your Lordshippe may gather for from such a composition doe arise all jealousies and all contentions It was practized in elder times to the great trouble of the kingdome and to the losse and ruine of many It was of latter time vsed by King Henry the eight but euery way to his disadvantage When the King leaues himselfe to his people they assure themselues that they are trusted and beloued of their king and there was neuer any assembly so barbarous as not to aunswere the loue and trust of their King Henry the sixt when his estate was in effect vtterly ouerthrowne vtterly impouerished at the humble request of his Treasurer made the same knowne to the House or otherwise vsing the Treasurers owne words Hee humbly desired the King to take his staffe that hee might saue his wardship COVNS But you know they will presently bee in hand with those impositions which the King hath laid by his owne royall prerogatiue IVST Perchance not my Lord but rather with those impositions that haue beene by some of your Lordships laide vpon the King which did not some of your Lordships feare more than you doe the impositions laid vpon the Subjects you would neuer disswade his Majestie from a Parliament For no man doubted but that his Majestie was advised to lay those impositions by his Councell and for particular things on which they were laid the aduice came from petty fellowes though now great ones belonging to the Custome-house Now my Lord what prejudice hath his Majestie his revenue beeing kept vp if the impositions that were laid by the aduice of a few be in Parliament laid by the generall Councell of the kingdome which takes off all grudging and complaint COVNS Yea Sir but that which is done by the King with the aduice of his priuate or priuy Councell is done by the Kings absolute power IVS. And by whose power is it done in Parliament but by the Kinges absolute power mistake it not my Lord The 3 estates doe but advise as the priuy Councel doth which advice if the king embrace it becomes the kings own acte in the one the kings law in the other for without the kings acceptation both the publicke priuate aduices bee but as empty egge-shels and what doth his Majestie loose if some of those things which concerns the poorer sort be made free